Fantasy Baseball Player Rankings & Projections
2010 Starting Pitcher Preseason Preview
Zack Greinke
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The sky is the limit for the phenom
Greinke, unfortunately the fantasy sky is very low in Kansas
City. |
7. Zack Greinke - Royals - 2010 Preview:
What a break out season it was for the former number one draft-pick.
He posted a mind-boggling 2.16 ERA and ended up winning the American
League Cy Young Award while pitching for one of the worst teams
in baseball. If he were pitching for a winner, 20 wins would have
been probable, unfortunately he does not and will not again in 2010
and thus he is not likely to crack the top-five by season's-end.
Greinke is no fluke. He has been in the Bigs' since his 2004 rookie
season where he went 8-11 with a 3.97 ERA. That was followed by
his dismal 2005 performance of 5-17 with a 5.80 ERA, so he has gone
through the growing pains, and the good news is at 26, he has room
to get better, though a 2009 repeat will be hard to imagine.
2009 Statistics:
16-8 - 2.16 ERA - 242 K's - 229.1 IP
2010 Projection: 17-9
- 2.62 ERA - 238 K's - 230 IP
8. Justin Verlander - Tigers - 2010 Preview:
If you take away his disastrous 2008 where he went 11-7 with a 4.87
ERA, Verlander has been a consistent 18 win 3.50 ERA pitcher over
a three year period. What was special about his 2009 performance
was his incredible K/9-ratio of 10.09 which is up from his career
average of 7.16. That takes him from a very good fantasy pitcher
to a fantasy-stud. The question on the strikeouts is, can he repeat
it? Verlander added a slider to his repertoire in 2009 and that
may account for the difference, and if so you can expect more of
the same in 2010. Either way Verlander proved in 2009 that he is
a top-ten fantasy starting pitcher.
2009 Statistics:
19-9 - 3.45 ERA - 269 K's - 240 IP
2010 Projection: 18-8
- 3.59 ERA - 238 K's - 229 IP
9. Adam Wainwright - Cardinals - 2010 Preview:
He has won 30 games with just 11 losses in the last two seasons
after returning from injury in 2008. Wainwright may have broken
out in 2009 with his 19 win season, but his abilities and talent
have been apparent as since his rookie 2006 season. The Cardinals
named him the closer at the end of 2006 and throughout the playoffs
and World Series and he dominated like a veteran. He followed that
season up with a so-so 14-12, 3.70 ERA and then the injury season
of 2008 in which he finished with an impressive 11-3 mark. So clearly
Wainwright is the real-deal and there is no reason to believe that
2010 won't be another great year.
2009 Statistics:
19-8 - 2.63 ERA - 212 K's - 233 IP
2010 Projection: 17-6
- 2.71 ERA - 178 K's - 220 IP
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10. Jon Lester - Red Sox - 2010 Preview:
In his third the 26-year-old lefty took the next necessary step
to becoming a fantasy-stud by improving his K/9-ratio to an excellent
9.97 while still posting a good ERA and solid win totals. Doubt
an average start to the season Lester finished strong by going 7-2
with a 2.82 ERA after the All-Star break. Bottom line is his career
record is 42-16 and pitching for the Red Sox should keep his winning
percentage high and for a developing strikeout pitcher, that is
a scary combination.
2009 Statistics:
15-8 - 3.41 ERA - 225 K's - 203.1 IP
2010 Projection: 18-6
- 3.25 ERA - 206 K's - 205 IP
11. Matt Cain - Giants - 2010 Preview:
If it were not for number one fantasy starting pitcher and two-time
Cy Young Award winner, Tim Lincecum, there would be a lot more talk
about the young Matt Cain. After two seasons of posting a total
of 15 wins and 30 loses, Cain came through with a very solid 14-8
mark in 2009. During the 15-30 seasons he did maintain a very nice
3.71 ERA, so the awful record was more due to the lack of run support
from the Giants than Cain's ability. The Giant offense took a step
up in 2009 and should take a another step in 2010 with the signing
of Aubrey Huff, Freddy Sánchez and Mark DeRosa. Cain's lifetime
K/9-ratio is 7.52, but at age 25 his ratio and the entirety of Matt
Cain's stats could continue to get better over the next couple of
seasons.
2009 Statistics:
14-8 - 2.89 ERA - 171 K's - 217.2 IP
2010 Projection: 17-7
- 2.85 ERA - 188 K's - 225 IP
12. Dan Haren - Diamondbacks - 2010 Preview:
He has been very consistent over the last five seasons averaging
about 15 wins, a 3.50 ERA and a 7.6 K/9-ratio. Those are very solid
numbers and you have to like the consistency he shows, but one thing
those consistent numbers show is that he has never taking the step
in being a dominating pitcher. His best win-loss season was in 2007
when he went 16-8 and his best ERA was in 2007 when he posted a
3.07 ERA. While those numbers are good, neither are great, so there
is no evidence of any upside in Haren (who is 29), what you see
is what you get. A bit of good news for Haren prospectors would
be that his K/9-ratio has improved over the years and in 2009 it
was an excellent 8.76 and that is just enough to get him into the
top-ten of fantasy baseball starting pitchers.
2009 Statistics:
14-10 - 3.13 ERA - 223 K's - 229.1 IP
2010 Projection: 15-8
- 3.06 ERA - 207 K's - 224 IP
